A Colorado man made a chance connection with a Argentine silversmith that inspired him to send a piece of Colorado to become part of the new papacy, according to the Archdiocese of Denver.

During Holy Week, Zachary Urban, of the Saints Peter and Paul Parish in Wheat Ridge, sent 3 ounces of silver from the “In God We Trust” Mine in Alma to seventh-generation silversmith Adrian Tallarols in Buenos Aires for the Argentine to craft a vessel to be used by Pope Francis during Mass.

Tallarols will present several vessels he is crafting to his fellow Argentine, Francis.

On the day Francis became pope, Urban thought of his old friend, Tallarols, according to a press release from the Archdiocese of Denver written by Nissa LaPoint.

Urban met Tallarols while honeymooning in Buenos Aires with his wife Melinda. They were shopping in the city and purchased some of the silversmith’s work. At the same time they noticed he had made vessels for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. The couple stayed in touch with Tallarols through email and Facebook messages.

“When he was elected that day it clicked that the pope is from Argentine and my friend is from Argentina,” Urban said.

He learned Tallarols would again make chalice, plate and spoon for a pontiff.

“Then I had to go about trying to find silver,” Urban said.

Urban found a Fort Collins man with a private reserve of silver, including a rectangle extracted from the “In God We Trust” Mine. He shipped it to Tallarols’ workshop.

“It has a lot of symbolism in mixing the different cultures together and different pieces of the Catholic Church together,” Urban told LaPoint.

Where is your moral compass pointing? What are your social values? Hark will explore faith, morals, ethics and character at the intersection of religion ethics, culture, politics, media, science, education, economics and philosophy. At times this blog will alert readers to breaking news and trends. At times it will attempt to look more deeply into intriguing subjects. Hark means to listen attentively, and we will, as readers talk back to the news.